


Math Pranks and Family Bonding

by Sun_Spark



Series: Numb3rs: Colby & David & Demi-Asexual Shenanigans [4]
Category: Numb3rs (TV)
Genre: (mentioned - Freeform, (mentioned) - Freeform, Anthropology, Asexual Character, Asexual Colby Granger, Banter, Comedy, David Colby and Nikki being little shits, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, I made Colby have an Anthropology degree..., Larry and Colby being dorks, M/M, Mild Language, Non-Sexual, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Siblings, Stargate, Team as Family, Teasing, can I actually say it's comedy?, disney's atlantis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26299045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sun_Spark/pseuds/Sun_Spark
Summary: Colby, David, and Nikki play a small prank on Charlie's math sensibilities. Mass teasing and family/team bonding occurs. Larry and Colby are geeks and geek out together. Colby has an Anthropology degree and will shock everyone with it because reasons. Ever seen a Math geek and an Anthropology geek fight? David is wondering how he ended up in a relationship with this dork, but he wouldn't trade him for anything. Megan watches on in amusement. Nikki is the little sister nobody asked for (but all adore). Don is everybody's big brother, and mischief ensues.Pure Family/Team fun and fluff of the (hopefully) comedic kind.
Relationships: Colby Granger/David Sinclair, Larry Fleinhardt/Megan Reeves
Series: Numb3rs: Colby & David & Demi-Asexual Shenanigans [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985776
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	Math Pranks and Family Bonding

**Author's Note:**

> Saw a video that did the math prank portion (what is written on the board) but I could not find it again to link. It is responsible for me doing this.

Most days Charlie enjoyed being at the FBI, enjoyed helping to solve cases with his brother and their team, even when said cases were stressful or far too sad. Most days he liked being here almost as much as he liked being at Cal-Sci. Today was not yet an exception, as it found the young professor walking into the mid-level floor of the building with Larry Fleinhardt by his side. Sadly, Amita was not joining them today, busy with her students as she was. Her missing presence did nothing to damper the conversation, however, as the two men were locked in a peaceful but heated debate about Newton’s Third Law, the gravitational pull of planets, and tracking unreported crime. Today was just like any other day, except that today found the pair stopping short just inside the doorway of the conference room and staring dumbly at what was before them.

“What the hell is that?”

The room, being Nikki, David, and Colby looked up with innocent expressions at the sound of Charlie’s voice. The rest of their team filtered in around Charlie and settled around the room. Charlie was staring at the whiteboard that had three lines on it: A Square with the right angles marked, a line of equations, and a line of geometric shapes with an equal sign. It was Colby who blinked up at him childish mischief and a poor performance of innocence and proceeded to say: 

“Well we were thinking and there are four 90-degree angles in a square, yeah? And 90 times 4 is 360. And there are 360 degrees in a Circle.” He was biting back a smirk and his compatriots were faring no better as David’s mouth kept twisting and Nikki barely held in her laughter. “So…Square equals Circle.”

Larry gaped and squinted at them like he couldn’t believe how dumb they were. Charlie just stared at him, and by proxy the other two who had been part of this, with the blank stare of the one friend who did not sign up for this shit and has not had their coffee. Never mind that it was 3 in the afternoon and Charlie had had at least five cups of coffee by now.

“Fuck you.” Done. That was the word for that tone – Not annoyed, not tired, not resigned, but all three: Done. Completely and utterly done with their shit. 

Out of the snickering and choked off laughter filling the room, Don’s amused grin and playful scoff called his brother’s attention. “I don’t know Chuck,”Charlie’s not quite glare locked onto the elder, and it was only the years of experience from being the older brother in this relationship that stopped Don from breaking down into laughter. Instead, he feigned seriousness, the grin gave it away though. “It seems pretty reasonable to me.”

Charlie glared. “This coming from the guy who got a 73 in 11th-grade Geometry.”

Don gave one of his half-laughs, half-shrugging motions, “Wha- Hey.” His grin wasn’t hidden at this point, but somehow that would probably be more infuriating to his younger brother. “Erica Daniels was in that class.”

Charlie rolled his eyes, suddenly every bit the 12-year-old brother who used to annoy Don just for the attention. “Ah yes, because Cheerleaders are so much more important than the math that makes up just about everything.”

Don raised his hands in mock- read that, ‘mock’ – surrender, grin having turned to a smirk at the edges. From the corner of his eye, he saw Colby making a face and he turned to him, throwing a verbal jab playfully. “Oh don’t even Mr-Asexual. Like I don’t know you’re holding hands with David under the table.”

While a laugh startled out of Nikki, Colby just stared at Don for a second before looking away and taking a drink from his seltzer – Notably with his non-dominant hand as that one was under the table. David shook his head in amusement but did not deny anything. Nikki, ever the little sister the pair hadn’t asked for but adored – even though they would never admit it -, leaned towards David, mischief written all over her face. “Guess I got it right when I called him your ‘Girlfriend’, huh?”

That she was teasing was obvious, and though David went to comment it was Colby who dramatically rolled his eyes and fixed his gaze on her. “Oh please. Your gender roles are an archaic expression of a Eurocentric world view that should no longer be imposed on a diverse society such as ours.”

Everyone went quiet to gape at him, even Don and Charlie stopped their quiet sibling bickering. David was unfazed, after all, he lived with this. Colby scanned the room, taking in each of the surprised stares, minus two that is. “What?”

Liz did a double-take, looking as if she might laugh but not making the sound in her surprise. “Do you even know what you just said?”

Colby stared at her for all of three seconds before rolling his eyes. “See, the reason Megan is the only one not staring at me like I’m crazy is because she looked through my records back when the ‘Chinese Thing’ happened and knows what my degree is in.”

Nikki raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? And what’s that, Gender Studies?”

Colby did not deign that with an eye-roll, but he wanted to. “Anthropology. Cultural specifically, but we had to learn the basics of all four American branches, as well as the foundations of British and French forms.”

Larry, having wandered to stand next to a highly amused Megan who was perched on a stool, pursed his lips behind his steepled hands and nodded thoughtfully. “A noble pursuit. Searching for the threads of human behavior interwoven into the fabric of their vast societies and cultures.”

Several pairs of eyes blinked rapidly as they processed this. Liz finally leaned forward where she was sitting on the table and squinted at him. “And you chose to be a G-man?”

Colby shrugged nonchalantly. “I was already in the military when I finished my degree. It was quite helpful to have that lens, but by the time I got home my path was pretty well set.”

Nikki and Liz had a habit of trading sentences without realizing it, and so it was now Nikki who popped up with the comment: “So you don’t study anymore?”

David laughed suddenly and Colby bit his lip while ducking his head in bashful amusement. He knew where this was going. “ ‘ Don’t study’?” He chuckled. “There are so many books, and articles, and PDF print-outs in our apartment that they do not fit anywhere.” He shook his head as if exasperated but it was fond. “We’re going to have to get another bookshelf.” Colby just grinned without remorse.

Megan looped an arm around Larry and smiled softly at their ragtag family group. "The perspective it gives is a valuable one when dealing with both different cultures and even just different social groups." She grinned at Colby. "But given that I also know you have a second degree in History, with a minor focusing on paganistic and ancient religions..." Her grin grew at his half-hearted glare for revealing his secrets. "I'm guessing that your scholarly work became your hobby when you're not kicking down doors."

The blonde just rolled his eyes but waved a hand at her in the recognized motion of admitting and acknowledging that she was right. He made that gesture towards her quite often, and it always got the same proud of herself, not quite smirk she was wearing now.

Don got that odd glint that older siblings do when they’ve realized something they can tease their younger siblings – or teammates – with. “So you’re like Milo.”

Colby’s amused gaze snapped up to him and he took on a mock-offended tone, complete with single-handed gestures, seeing as the other hand was still exactly where Don had claimed it to be. “Is that an insult? Oh no, Eppes! You can pry Milo Thatch and Daniel Jackson out of my cold dead hands!”

While another round of laughter and a long-suffering head shake from David, went around the room, Larry lit up like a Christmas tree. “Stargate?” At Colby’s grin and nod, he got excited. “The science was not as plausible, nor nearly as well explored as that in Star Trek, but I must confess that I quite enjoyed the show! The concept of harnessing a wormhole to travel through space in a fraction of the time it would take without it, no matter how unlikely, is quite incredible.”

Colby’s grin grew. “That was always fun to see, and to listen to them explain the not-science. But I gotta say I enjoyed the spin they put on the mythos and the presentation of different cultures. They managed to mirror several ancient Earth civilization while relying on historical data, and created completely fictional cultures that were extremely in-depth even if they were only around for an episode.”

David’s hand came up between the two of them. “Okay! Another time, huh guys?” At the odd looks he received, he shook his head in amusement. “Ya know how Charlie gets about Math?” At the nods he received – notably not from Charlie, nor from Larry and Colby who knew where this was headed. “Yeah. That’s how he is with anthropology and random history. They’ll be at it for hours.”

Colby did not pout at his partner while the room chuckled, not at all, it was just a very close approximation. David was entirely unapologetic, eyes shining with humor and fondness. 

A moment or two passed and things returned to normal. After the room settled, Charlie turned back to the three musketeers at the table. “Right then.” He pointed to the board. “What the hell?”

Colby was arguably the quickest on his feet, having grown up with a brother as mischievous as himself. Once again he adopted the innocent tone, but it was pointless and as see-through as air by now. “I mean, it makes sense Charlie: All the angles add up to the same thing.”

Charlie stared at him for two heartbeats, and then an almost sly look came over his face. “Colby?”

“Mhmm?”

“You know how the Chinese and Taiwanese languages are derived from the same root?”

Colby raised a brow at him and named it just to prove the point in whatever game they were playing. “Sino-Tibetan. Your point?”

Charlie’s head tilted ever so slightly to the side. “Well I’m sure the languages, and the cultures, could just be classified under one term, there aren’t that many differences. After all, they add up to the same thing.” He turned around to pick up his bag and the clock’s hand could be heard ticking forward the second, just one. Then Colby threw his now empty seltzer can at Charlie and it bounced off his head.

In the wake of laughter, Larry’s shocked exclamation, and David’s silent expressions of ‘why do I love this idiot?’ written across his face, Don tried to make peace and call a truce, as he put it “Between the Sciences.”

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo... Numb3rs is a small fandom these days. What are the chances I find a fellow Stargate fan in our midst? 🤣  
> If you would like to leave a kudos or a comment, I would very much appreciate it! I always answer comments eventually. ❤


End file.
